Maruti aims to sell upto 5,000 units of S-Cross every month

Sarmad Kadiri, Zigwheels.comMaruti is trying many things in one stroke - entering the crossover segment, launching just diesel variants, introducing a new and more powerful diesel engine, and improving on every aspect of car building (which they know mighty well). All this with the launch of the new Maruti Suzuki S-Cross.Termed as a premium crossover, the S-Cross has plenty more to offer than the usual run of the mill Hatchbacks on stilts which are often positioned as a crossover.The new Maruti packed to the brim with features, has acres of cabin space and uses top-notch materials never seen on any Maruti hatchback till date.

"We have set an internal target of selling 4,000 to 5,000 units of S-Cross a month, and capacity can be ramped up or down depending on demand," Executive Director and Head of Marketing and Sales, T Hashimoto said here after launching the S-Cross today, priced at Rs 8.8 lakh to Rs 14.5 lakh, ex-showroom, Mumbai.

The all diesel S-Cross comes in seven variants - four in the 1.2 litre DDiS 200 model and three models in the upper class 1.6 litre DDiS 320 model.

The company said it has no plans to roll out a petrol variant nor an automatic transmission model.

Maruti also ruled out exporting this model. When asked about plans, Executive Director and Head of Sales and Marketing, R S Kalsi told that the company has no plans to export this unit as the crossover SUV has undergone a lot of India-specific changes.

It can be noted that SUVs have been one of the most successfully selling models in the country for quite some time. Industry consultant IHS Automotive predicts that SUV sales may sniff at 1-million mark by 2020 in the country, which is almost double 5,50,000 units sales it expects this year.

Maruti enjoys 45 per cent market share in the domestic car market but the No 2 is way below and the No 3 is further down the line.

The compact SUV segment has been dominated by Renault Duster and Ford EcoSport, while the larger SUV space is dominated by Fortuner and Land Cruiser from Toyota and Scorpio and XUV500 from the domestic player Mahindra and the just launched Creta from Hyundai.

Against this, the rivals have better pricing. While the popular Duster is priced at Rs 9.12 lakh, the Hyundai Creta is priced at Rs 12.49 lakh in Delhi for comparable engine variants.